2007 Parish Council Report
CHIPPERFIELD PARISH COUNCIL
Annual Parish Report 2006-07 and Review 2003 - 2007
The current four-year term of office of the Parish Council ends this month and local elections are due to be held on 3 May. It therefore seems appropriate to include a summary of the council's work over the past four years in this report together with information about the immediate past year's activities.
Cllr. Liz Holliday, Chairman
COUNCIL MEMBERS
For the past four years the members of your Parish Council have been: Brenda Berners-Price, Mike Bradshaw, John Carter, Liz Holliday, Mark Jarrad, Mike Joseph, David Nobbs and Rosemarie Wakeman. All have attended Parish Council meetings regularly and met as members of the council's smaller working parties to discuss matters affecting the parish and bring recommendations to the full council meetings. They have acted as council representatives on the management committees of a number of local organisations and reported regularly to ensure that the council is kept informed about the activities of the youth, sporting, social and welfare groups in the village. Members have also represented the Parish Council at meetings with Dacorum Borough Council and other service agencies. Numerous consultation documents and reports have been sent to the Parish Council for comment, covering subjects including local transport, mineral extraction sites, policing, health provision, school admissions, and biodiversity in Hertfordshire.
Our community police officer, P.C. Bob Heley and Police Community Support Officer Kim Ashworth have attended Parish Council meetings throughout the year, reporting crime figures and keeping the council informed about their work in the village. In October 2006 P.C. Heley was re-deployed to Watford and for the past six months his post has been covered by P.C. Nick Pringle who is based in Kings Langley. Bob Heley's replacement, P.C. Julie Hennessy was appointed on 19 March 2007 and she will be joined on a job share basis by P.C. Emma Sikora in April.
FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES
STAFF
There has been a complete change off staff over the past four years. Our new Clerk, Joanne Deacon, took up her duties in January 2005, and is now studying for qualifications which, when completed, will enable Chipperfield to apply for Quality Parish Status. Macolm Durrant was appointed as Village Warden in March 2005 and Peter Sandall became Woodland Ranger in July 2006.
FINANCE
The Parish Budget for 2007-08 has been approved by Dacorum Borough Council and the Precept raised from your Council Tax for the forthcoming year will be £25,000 which is £920 more than last year. This represents a 3.4% increase which is an additional 97p on a Band D property, taking the new figure to £29.27 per annum.
The Parish Council asked Dacorum to raise £18,950 (the Concurrent budget) to be spent on the village. This figure includes the salary and expenses of the Village Warden, the Woodland Ranger, the cost of the Parish Council van and funds to be made available for grant aid to local organisations. The Concurrent budget is £390 higher than last year. Over the past four years the Parish Council has kept rigorously within the inflation guidelines set by Dacorum Borough Council.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
The Council undertook a review of its financial procedures in 2005 and with effect from 1 April that year adopted new Principles of Financial Management. A target level for each fund has been set and is regularly reviewed to ensure that the amount held is sufficient to meet likely expenditure (e.g. the money held in the Clock Reserve is able to pay for any unforeseen major repair and the eventual replacement of the village clock).
GRANT AID
Both the Junior and Senior Football Clubs, the Cricket Club, the Youth Club, the Playgroup and Village Hall received grant aid in 2006-07 and a contribution was made towards the maintenance of the graveyard.
PLANNING
At the time of writing, the Parish Council had handled 53 planning applications since April 2006 which is at about the same level as in the previous few years. Copies of all new plans are submitted to the Council by Dacorum Borough Council, and although our views are only of an advisory nature, if they differ from those of the responsible Planning Officer, they are required to go to the Borough's Development Control Committee for determination.
There were no major developments within the village in the past year; most applications were for house extensions. With these, the Council's main concerns are that sites are not over-developed and the proposed designs conform with the guidelines laid down in the Village Design Statement.
In addition to submitting its views on planning applications, the Council was also asked to respond to a number of important consultation documents regarding the future plans involving development in Dacorum, Three Rivers and the East of England. Particular concern was expressed at the way in which a Panel of Inspectors proposed to substantially increase housing development in Hemel Hempstead by wanting to reduce the boundaries of the Green Belt and then the Government Department for Communities and Local Government wanting to increase the number of new dwellings even further.
Another concern of the Parish Council has been the number of cases where developers have either completed new works without planning permission or have not taken necessary steps to rectify the situation when planning permission has been refused. It has been difficult to ascertain what enforcement action, if any, is being undertaken by Dacorum Borough Council, in those cases where its attention has been drawn to potential problem areas. Action has been taken in an endeavour to improve liaison with those concerned. Cllr David Nobbs
HIGHWAYS, ROAD SAFETY & PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Problems with gully clearance, road drainage, repair of pot holes and road surfaces have continued throughout the year. Some progress has been made although much still remains to be done. The amount of work which can be undertaken each year by Herts Highways depends entirely on the funds available from the area highways budget, although there are special arrangements to deal with emergency repairs.
A new Area Highways Manager was appointed earlier this year and the Parish Clerk is liaising with him regularly to report our concerns. Arrangements have been made to receive up-dated progress reports from Highways and these will be presented at Council meetings to ensure the situation is monitored.
Significant work which has been completed includes the establishment of limited waiting and parking restrictions in Chapel Croft and The Common outside The Two Brewers; the re-surfacing of a stretch of The Common from The Two Brewers to Queen Street (where new enforceable parking restrictions outside the school entrance are shortly to be introduced); the creation of a new footway in front of Tower Hill Garage to allow pedestrians safe access to cross the junction and the repair of the footway in Kings lane. The Parish Council contributed towards the cost of an entirely new length of footway at the bottom of Whippendell Hill which Herts Highways installed as part of the Parish Council's four-year project to link footpaths through the village (see below). Cllr. John Carter
FOOTPATHS & OPEN SPACES
During the past four years three new footpaths have been opened, the Langley Road Horse Track established and a permissive bridle path along the northern edge of The Common created. In 2006 Dacorum Borough Council upgraded the surface of the permissive bridle path which runs along our boundary with Sarratt Parish and this has been a boon for both riders and walkers over the winter months.
Using funds from the Parish Paths Partnership, several stiles have been replaced with kissing gates and barriers installed to prevent motorbikes using footpaths.
During the next few months the surface of Footpath 8 leading to The Apostles Pond will be regraded as part of a project initiated by Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council to provide an Easier Access Circular Route through The Common woodland. Provision will also be made on the permissive car park opposite the cricket ground to provide parking for disabled drivers so they may have access to the Circular Route.
The project to provide a safe route of linked footpaths through the village was completed in October 2006 with the official opening of two of the new paths. One runs along the inside of the hedge at the bottom of Chris and John Saunders' field bordering Dunny Lane. The other is an extension of the existing path along Langley Road with a stretch of new footway towards The Grove at Whippendell Bottom. The route then crosses the road and leads over the parish boundary through a new kissing gate to join a new path up Whippendell Hill.
None of this work would have been possible without the help and support of landowners, fundraising by the Jasmine Safety Track Trust, the active help of both Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council and the Countryside Management Service.
YOUTH & EDUCATION
Following changes in Government policy, the Parish Council is no longer entitled to a representative on the Board of Governors at St. Paul's School.. The severing of this direct link with the school, continuing difficulties with the organisation of the Youth Club and problems created by a number of teenage youths in the village, prompted the Parish Council to establish a new Youth and Education Working Party in 2006.
In June members of the working party invited PCSO Kim Ashworth to join them at a liaison meeting to seek advice and information from officers of both the Dacorum and Hertfordshire Youth Services. PCSO Ashworth and Cllr. Holliday then arranged a meeting with local teenage youths to find out what they wanted. At their request a martial arts course was arranged through the Police Community Team, to take place at the Youth Club, starting in January 2007. Unfortunately the youths' lack of commitment and unacceptable behaviour made training classes impossible and it was decided to cancel the initiative. However, the instructor agreed to offer classes for younger children and an enthusiastic group of 8 to14-year olds have been meeting for training for the past six weeks. With the support of parents, it is proposed to set up a Junior Karate Club which will meet at the Youth Club after Easter 2006.
ALLOTMENTS
There have been some incidents of theft of produce during the year and more seriously, major damage by vandals to chicken sheds and livestock in the autumn.
Following the renewal of tenancies at the end of the year, several plots became available which enabled the waiting list to be cleared. All plots are now let and a new waiting list has started. It is most encouraging that there is a continuing demand for allotments and that the allotment field is once again under full cultivation.